Foreign investment funds have started to change their investment strategies.
Previously, financial-banking sector, real estate and domestic big producers were the first choice of foreign investment funds'. However, in 2010, many funds have different perspectives on investment opportunities in Vietnam.
Dang Minh Loan, investment director of VOF fund-VinaCapital Co, said that her fund's strategy this year will be to focus on companies in fields such as education, health and agriculture.
Explaining about this change, Loan analysed macro-economy this year is forecasted to have many changes. So, it is hard to predict about sectors that are being impacted directly from the macro-economy such as financial-banking and property.
In addition, VOF greatly appreciates the potential of the fields of education, health, agriculture in Vietnam. For example, as for education sector, the number of private schools currently has not met the demands of society. Even, there is still lack of standard private schools with large scale. This is similar to the health sector. Therefore the potential of these areas is very attractive.
As for agriculture field, supporting services for the development of agriculture such as pesticides, fertilisers and transportation, are a matter of VOF's concern. VOF has invested in Lam Thao Fertiliser & Chemical Co. This year, VOF expected disbursements the capital of some $50-100 million.
IDG Ventures Vietnam Fund specialising in information technology is also planning to debut a new fund with a total investment of $150-200 million to invest in health and education.
Since the beginning of March, VinaCapital has cooperated with inProjects, a group specialises in providing professional services on project management for trade centre, entertainment, tourism and hotel, to establish VinaProjects Co that will operate in field of supplying service products on project management, design and asset management in Vietnam.
Thus, VinaCapital officially expanded business to service activities of real estate sector, a very potential market.
Similarly, Louis Nguyen, director board's chair of SAM Co that is running two investment funds in securities and real estate and listing shares on German Stock Exchange, said that this year there will be many changes in investment strategy of these two funds. As for securities fund, instead of investing in big trade names and blue-chips like earlier, the fund's aim is small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Notably, the fund will stop disbursement on non-listed firms that were the first goals in the fund's portfolio previously.
As for real estate fund, SAM has started a new fund with the name "Smart Money" under a different investment model. The fund is cooperation between a big investor and domestic and foreign specialists in many sectors with an aim to create value for the fund. The fund's goal is to seek assets that are being evaluated below the real value and companies that plan to become public companies to invest in.
Changes in investment strategies of foreign funds will be factors that domestic investors should care about in order to have fuller look on the market.
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